


Walk in the Trail

by cat105



Category: Original Work
Genre: Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 08:51:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18989341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat105/pseuds/cat105
Summary: A man and his daughter decide to take a walk in the trail.





	Walk in the Trail

The white sky stood softly behind the trees, as the sun, a pale yellow, started climbing down the horizon.  
I huffed as my dad and I slowly walked to the wooden post that stood near the entrance to the trail.  
“I’m not running.”  
Pa chuckled before bending down to stretch his legs. I stood there, watching as three old ladies emerged from the trail. They looked like the kind of ladies who gossiped a lot, with their matching black polyester sweaters and poofy curly hair.  
“Remember, I’m not running. You can run, but I’m not.”  
He straightened up and wrapped an arm around me as we began our walk in the trail. “I know! I’m not going to run. I’d rather spend time with you.”  
I pursed my lips at him. “We do spend time together.”  
“Well, at home, when I eat, you’re in your room and when I sleep, you eat.”  
I huffed again but didn’t say anything. That was true but really, I watched TV when he slept. I wasn’t going to tell him that though.  
Pa quickened his pace. “Since we are not running, walk quickly otherwise it’ll get dark soon.”  
I hurried up to him. “No, no it won’t. The sun will wait for us.”  
**1 MILE**  
He pointed to the metal ringed fence. “You see those leaves?”  
At the base of the fence, dirt and leaves had gathered to form a small wall before abruptly stopping at about 3 inches high. He continued. “It means it rained a lot. A few years ago there was a big flood, and the water was this high,” He gestured his hands above a few feet off the ground. “That’s why they built that creek.” He pointed to the dipped land left of us.  
“A woman who lived here, you know, near the neighborhood right here? She couldn’t swim and tried to stay above the water in her car. When they found her, she’d drowned in her truck.”  
My face scrunched up, and my eyes widened slightly, “Wow, that--that’s horrible; but, if I was walking in the trail and the flood was there, couldn’t I have just swum? The water level wouldn’t have been that high.”  
“No… The current was very powerful, and you wouldn’t be able to swim against it. You would probably drown. Better to stay out of the flood and just run back.”  
I gave him a confused look. “But if I got stuck in the flood, then I wouldn’t be able to just ‘run’. I would swim with the current.”  
“Yes, swim with the current and try not to drown. But still better to run.”  
I rolled my eyes before running a few meters to try to get ahead of him. As usual, he caught up to me with his quick strides.  
**2.5 MILE**  
“Listen.” he said suddenly. I stopped and gave him a weird look. What now?  
“You hear that?”  
A hoarse, slightly screeching sound played in the air. It seemed there were many animals making it, because the sound had many layers, like an onion.  
Pa’s mouth was slightly open as he turned an ear to listen to the sound. I frowned. “What is it?”  
He turned to continue walking. I hurried up to him.  
“Those were frogs. In Cambodia, when I was hungry, I sometimes caught frogs.”  
He gestured his hands to make a shape of a long stick. “We--I had a wooden stick and the strip of land between the rice paddies…”  
I supplied him a word. “Bridge?”  
He shook his head. “No, the… the road. At night, the frogs would run across the road and whenever you saw one, you would hit it hard and put it in a bag and take it home to cook. Just skin them and cook them. Frog legs with ginger is very good.”  
I made a face at him. Ginger? Gross. Frogs? Very gross.  
“Ew. I wouldn’t eat that.”  
His voice turned stern. “You would if you were very hungry.”  
I lifted a shoulder. “I guess… but thankfully I’m not.”  
I turned to him as an elderly woman and her daughter walked past us. All of the sudden, Pa’s voice resonated. “Ahh, that’s very gross!”  
I frowned at him. “What?”  
He blindly pointed behind us. “Someone had thrown up. It was yellow, and it looked like it had beans in it…”  
“Ew! Did I step on it!?” I frantically looked at my shoes before looking at him. He chuckled, “No, I made sure you didn’t.”  
I shook my head like I was trying to get rid of the thought of the vomit. “That’s so gross.”  
“Mh hm.”  
**3 MILE**  
We finally reached the end of the trail which was really a bridge that led to another park, but we weren’t going to walk there. I ran up to the bridge, so I could touch it before him.  
I smiled at Pa. “I beat you.”  
He shook his head. “Yes, yes…”  
His shoe finally stepped on the bridge before we turned around and began walking back. The sky had darkened a bit, but the sun was still out, a diminishing orange halo. Against the many thin dark lines of the trees, a very beautiful picture painted itself.  
I lifted my hands up to form an imaginary camera.“I wish I had a camera that way I could take a picture right now.”  
He glanced at me. “Yes but…” He lifted a hand up as if to brush over the scenery, “Those trees are covering up the sun. It hides its beauty.”  
“No,” I shook my head, “The trees only make it better. Look how the dark branches contrast against the light. It just goes to show the beauty of the sun’s glow.”  
He didn’t say anything, but I had a feeling he still disagreed. We passed two men with four kids running around them. Before long, I spotted a bench that I hadn’t seen coming the other way. My feet were beginning to burn on the soles.  
I ran to the bench so I could rest before Pa caught up to me.  
“Ah.” I sighed in relief before he irritatingly entered my vision. Five seconds had barely passed before he walked right past me.  
“Hurry up.” He called out to me. I glared at the back of his head before getting off the bench. I hurried up to him. “My feet are beginning to hurt.” I complained. He hummed in response.  
“Mh, we should walk faster. It’s starting to get dark.”  
**4.5 MILE**  
He pointed to a tree.  
The tree was a longleaf pine tree. Already standing at an impressive height of 70 feet tall, the tree had surpassed many of the other trees, poking out awkwardly at the top.  
“The palm trees at home were as tall as that tree. When we were very hungry, I’d climb the tree to get some of the fruits.”  
He stooped low to clasp each hand on an ankle. “First, I would tie a string around my feet so I wouldn’t fall. Then I had to climb up the tree.”  
He stood up and we continued walking as I listened to his story.  
“The fruit was way at the top,” He pointed to the top of the pine tree, “And I climbed the tree, one foot up at a time. The trunk was bigger than I could wrap my arms around, but the ground was so far away--I held on for dear life.”  
“I finally reached the top. I cut off about--oh, maybe seven, ten fruits.”  
“Did you hold them as you climbed down?”  
He frowned at me, “No! How could I if I had to climb back down? I dropped them after I cut them.”  
He shook his head. “Dear lord, if I did that now, I wouldn’t be able to. I’m too old,” A small sigh escaped him, and he clasped a hand to his eyes, covering them before he looked at me sternly and said, “The Khmer Rouge was horrible. So many people starved. You are very lucky to have been born in the US. Good food, education, don’t waste it.”  
I gave a sheepish nod. “Yeah.” I mumbled. I glanced back and saw the longleaf pine tree. Some time passed, and when I looked back again, it had faded.  
**6 MILE**  
The air became cooler as time went on and before long, the entrance of the trail came into view. Pa and I were right next to each other. As usual, a burst of competitiveness flared in me to reach the entrance before him. I took off running.  
“Hey!” I heard Pa’s voice and soon, his quick footsteps reached my ears.  
“I’m going to beat you!”  
Afraid of being beaten, I ran even faster, my legs moving at quick speed. I touched the wooden post that stood near the gateway.  
I panted as I turned around to find him running a few yards away. He reached me, and I gave him a triumphant grin. “I beat you.”  
We turned to walk to the car. I patted his arm. “Hey.”  
He looked at me. I pointed to the sky. It was a dark grey, and the sun looked to be settling down for bed, but it was still bright enough for me to say, “I told you: the sun waited for us.”


End file.
